The A Team

It's late on a fiercely cold evening with the rain lashing and the wind howling down the Yarrow valley. Obviously, then, it's time for an exciting new Debatable Land series!

Readers possessing elephantine memories may recall this post in which I confessed - nay, revelled! - in being a cricket geek. I'm not alone in this. Like a good number of other sensitive souls I often spend idle moments (of which, blessedly, there are many) selecting imaginary cricket XIs. Thus one can spend hours pondering the greatest West Indies XI of time or the finest selection of left-handed cricketers or, well, you get the idea.

An old and favourite variety of this parlour game is to choose sides whose players all share a surname that begins with the same letter. Some members of the alphabet are weaker than others. We shall have to wait for the great Chinese cricketing revolution before the X's are competitive, for instance.

Still, a start must be made. And where better than at the beginning of the alphabet? A it is then. This is, in my opinion, the strongest A team available to be selected from the ranks of cricketers who have played at least one test match. You may, indeed probably will, disagree with the selection. Let's hear your arguments in the comments.

Some ground rules: each side must, as best as possible be balanced. Thus no selecting eight bowlers or nine batsmen. Also, there must be an at least semi-serviceable wicket-keeper.

THE A TEAM

1 Dennis Amiss (ENG)
2 Saeed Anwar (PAK)
3 Mohinder Amarnath (IND)
4 Zaheer Abbas (PAK)
5 Mohammed Azharuddin (IND)
6 Les Ames (ENG) (Wkt)
7 Warwick Armstrong (AUS) (Capt)
8 Wasim Akram (PAK)
9 Curtly Ambrose (WI)
10 Mushtaq Ahmed (PAK)
11 Bob Appleyard (ENG)

Selection Policy:

This is not a bad team though not, as we shall see later in the series, as good as some of its rivals from other letters. It is also unusually well-stocked with players from the Sub-Continent. The batting is solid (Amiss, Zaheer and Les Ames all scored 100 first class centuries) while in Amiss* and Amarnath there are two superlative players of fast bowling. Saeed Anwar, and Azhar constitute a fine brace of dashers while the attack is, I think, nicely balanced.

I am prejudiced in favour of spin, hence the selection of two leg-spinners. Wasim and Ambrose will do fine with the new ball, leaving only the choice of a third seamer. Shoaib Akhtar's pace seemed superfluous given the selection of Ambrose and Wasim, so in the end it came down to Appleyard or Terry Alderman. True, Appleyard only played 9 tests, but he took his test wickets a 17 and 708 wickets in 152 first class matches at an average of 15. His career was curtailed by injury and he had the misfortune to play in the 1950s when England had what was arguably their strongest pool of bowlers ever. His medium pacers and accuracy as a stock bowler also balance the attack. Plus, every side deserves one wild or semi-wild selection. He just edges out Alderman.

Warwick Armstrong is the obvious - indeed only real - candidate to skipper the side.

Other players who didn't quite make the grade: Mike Atherton, Jimmy Adams, Intikhab Alam.

Next week: The Killer B's!

UPDATE: Slight overstatement here, Amiss did have a torrid time against Lillee and Thomson, and his overall record against Australia is miserable. Still, he scored heavily against the West Indies.

Comments

[Andrew]

I have nothing to add about cricket, especially not about Scottish cricket (although arguably, the best thing that can be said is that they appear to be getting better). But you taunted me for taking part in fantasy cycling, and so I return the favor.

best
A.

[Shippers]

I do hope that these lists will be drawn up in the cold light of sobriety, since I recall a (very enjoyable) session considering the merits of a West Indian XI in which more than two hours passed before either of us realised that we has yet to find a place for one G. Sobers Esq.

Well done on leaving out Atherton.

[Shippers]

My money is on the 'H's to win an imaginary test championship.

I would also be gratified if you can find it in your heart to leave out Gooch (Gavaskar/Greenidge is a saviour here) and include Gower - revenge for that Indian tour.

[tommyt]

I would imagine W and G are going to feature strongly. Also look out for the Muslim nomencalture leading to poetic licenece - Mushtaq Ahmed makes the A side but Inzamam Ul Haq will get into either the I's or U's at the expense of the H's. Only the pleasing alliteration of Yousuf Youhana stops any confusion there.

[Dave K]

Not a bad team at all. If the top order lasts long enough to take the shine off the new ball, I can see some huge Zaheer Abbas/Azharuddin partnerships if they face the spinners. You'd really get to see some footwork with those two out there. As far as the bowling goes, Ambrose/Akram has to be up there for among the best new ball attacks. I can't think of any other A players off the top of my head, so I'll have to take your word on who the other A players are who didn't make the list. My only minor disagreement -- I don't know much about Appleyard, and while your reasoning w.r.t. Alderman makes some sense, I'd still give him the nod for those two GREAT Ashes that he had.

As for future letters, without giving this much thought at all, the M's bowling line-up is pretty damn fearsome (McGrath, Marshall, Muralitharan). Most other letters would kill for McDermott, but he may not even make the cut.

[Dave K]

Oops ... the "him" in the last sentence of the first paragraph of my above post refers to Terry Alderman.

[dearieme]

Why have you omitted Shane Arse?

you are goign to have to speed this up Alex - else you will be spoiled out of all relevance

Boycott
Boon
Border
Bradman
Barrington
Botham
Bedser (A)
Bari (Wasim)
Barnes (SF)
Bowes
Bedi

Bubbling under Bailey, Basil Butcher even Shane Bond at a push. Apologies for Boon as an opener but he did play a dozen or so tests there.

[Sri]

I am not sure if Anwar deserves a spot - he scored heavily against pretty weak bowling and didn't face the Aussies in Australia a lot, he didnt fare very well against Allan Donald & Co.

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I have nothing to add about cricket, especially not about Scottish cricket (although arguably, the best thing that can be said is that they appear to be getting better). But you taunted me for taking part in fantasy cycling, and so I return the favor.

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As for future letters, without giving this much thought at all, the M's bowling line-up is pretty damn fearsome (McGrath, Marshall, Muralitharan). Most other letters would kill for McDermott, but he may not even make the cut.